5.4 PTR Patch Notes - Updated June 20th

Following yesterday's datamined 5.4 PTR build, we have the official PTR notes from Blizzard today. Of particular note:

To speed up legendary quest progress, can be completed in in 5.4.

Any Battle Pet that could be awarded from a boss on Raid Finder difficulty, such as , can now be won from a bonus roll, in addition to the standard bonus roll reward.

Arena matches that go longer than 15 minutes will now reach a quick end with one team getting hugely buffed with . This is awarded to the team that has the most players alive and has gotten the most players closest to death.

Many classes got significant ability and glyph changes:: now reduces magic damage taken in the area-of-effect by 40% for 3 seconds, and the ability no longer scales with strength.

: has been redesigned. Fingers of Frost now increases the damage of Ice Lance by an additional 2%, Brain Freeze increases the damage of the instant cast Frostfire Bolt by 2%, and damage done by the Mage's Water Elemental is increased by 2%.

: Sacred Shield (Old) has been renamed to Holy Shield and is no longer a talent. Holy Shield is a Protection Paladin ability learned at level 85. The New is as follows:Holy: When the Paladin or their Beacon of Light target falls below 30% health, that target gains a Sacred Shield absorbing damage equal to 30% of their maximum health. Sacred Shield can only occur once every 2 minutes.

Protection, Retribution: When the Paladin falls below 30% health, they gain a Sacred Shield absorbing damage equal to 30% of their maximum health. Sacred Shield can only occur once every 2 minutes.

: Shadowform now increases the Priest's armor by 60%: has been redesigned. Casting Healing Wave, Greater Healing Wave, Healing Surge, or Chain Heal, increases the duration of Healing Rain by 1 second. Damaging an enemy with Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Earthshock, or Stormstrike increases the duration of Healing Rain by 1 second.: has been changed again. It no longer reduces movement speed, and will now allow the Warlock to cast Incinerate, Malefic Grasp, and Shadow Bolt while moving.: and no longer require shields.

Click the cut to read the complete updated notes!

Rygarius

New Raid:

More information coming soon.

New Feature: Flexible Raid Difficulty

This is a new raid difficulty designed for pre-made groups of 10 to 25 players or any number in between. This means it's possible to have raids of 15 or 22 players! Difficulty will adjust automatically based on the number of players present with encounters intended to provide a challenge roughly between Raid Finder and Normal difficulty.

Flexible Raid difficulty requires a pre-made group to join but has no minimum item level requirements or role restrictions. Both BattleTag™ and Real ID friends are eligible to participate.

Loot quality will be between Raid Finder and Normal difficulty and awarded through a personal loot system (similar to Raid Finder). Bonus rolls and loot specialization will also be supported.

Players will be able to earn raid achievements just like in Normal or Heroic difficulty.

Flexible Raid difficulty has a lockout that is separate from Raid Finder and Normal difficulty.

Proving Grounds is a new feature for individual players to test and improve their combat skills.

At the Proving Grounds, players may undertake trials, designed for Damage, Tank, or Healer roles.

It provides a great opportunity to learn how to Tank or Heal, without the need of a group.

Each trial is available in four separate difficulties: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Endless. Harder difficulties include more difficult and varied enemies.

Endless mode allows you to test your mettle against increasingly difficult enemies. Compare your best scores to friends and guildmates!

: Access to the Proving Grounds and more information is coming soon.

New Feature: Virtual Realms

Virtual Realms are sets of realms that are fused together, and will behave exactly as if they were one cohesive realm. Players on the same Virtual Realm will be able to join guilds, access a single Auction House, join arena teams and raids, as well run dungeons or group up to complete quests.

Players belonging to the same Virtual Realm will have a (#) symbol next to their name.

All taunt type abilities now increase all threat generated against the target while the taunt is active by 200%.

Vengeance gains from being critically hit have been halved.

General

no longer costs Runic Power.

is a new passive ability learned at level 76. When the Death Knight dodges or parries any attack, they gain 50% of their Parry and Dodge as additional bonus to Critical Strike for 20 seconds.

Talents

has been redesigned. The talent now reduces magic damage taken in the area-of-effect by 40% for 3 seconds, and the ability no longer scales with strength.

had its damage increased by 10%.

now tries to convert 2 fully-depleted runes (up from 1) into a Death Rune based on specialization.

Blood: Restores 1 Frost Rune, 1 Unholy Rune

Frost: 1 Frost Rune, 1 Unholy Rune

Unholy: 1 Blood Rune, 1 Frost Rune

Glyphs

now reduces damage dealt by diseases by 15% (down from a 30% reduction).

now reduces the cooldown of Mind Freeze by 1 second, and raises its cost by 10 Runic Power (down from 2 seconds and 20 Runic Power).

now causes Outbreak to cost 30 Runic Power (down from 40).

Blood

no longer costs Runic Power.

no longer reduces the cost of Icebound Fortitude.

Unholy

now reduces the cooldown of Raise Dead by 60 seconds.

General

no longer has a 20-second cooldown for Feral Druids.

now has a duration of 20 seconds while in PvP combat (down from 40 seconds).

now causes the target to gain mana equal to 50% of the casting Druid’s Spirit every second for 10 seconds.

Wild Mushroom's Restoration version of the ability now summons a single mushroom at the friendly target’s location. If the mushroom is recast, the mushroom moves to the new location and retains its accumulated bonus healing. A single mushroom now heals for as much as what 3 mushrooms combined healed for previously.

has its mana cost increased by 50%.

Talents

has been completely redesigned to reduce complexity and increase usability, but maintain the spirit of the effects. Benefits now varies by specialization.

Balance: Increases the amount healed by by 20%. Casting increases the damage bonus of the Druid's next by 10%.

Feral: Increases the amount healed by Healing Touch by 20%. Casting Healing Touch increases the damage for the Druid's next two melee abilities by 25%. causes the Druid's next Rip to deal 15% increased damage.

Guardian: Increases the amount healed by by 20%. Mangle (Bear) critical strikes have a 20% chance to make the next or instant, free, and castable in all forms.

Restoration: Causes to deal 20% more damage and heals a nearby friendly target for 100% of the damage done.

Force of Nature Treant summoned by the Feral version of this talent will now cast Entangling Roots instead of Bash. when activated, now also provides a 25% bonus to healing for Restoration Druids. no longer has a limit on the number of targets that could be affected, up from 5. is no longer a talent, and is now an ability learned by Restoration Druids at level 30. when activated, causes healing spells now trigger an additional heal on a nearby ally for 25% of the amount healed. This is in addition to the existing effect where it damages a nearby enemy target for 25% of the healing done. has been partially redesigned to make it more attractive to Balance, Guardian, and Restoration Druids.

Balance: , , and casts have a 8% chance to cause the next to grant 100 Lunar Power or Solar Power instead of activating the next Eclipse.

Guardian: Increases Rage generation from Mangle (Bear) by 20% instead of 30%, but the bonus now also applies to Rage generated by Primal Fury.

Restoration: Now causes the Druid to gain 100% haste (up from 75%) on their next spell after casting .

, a new talent healing the Druid for 5% of their maximum health every 5 seconds. If the Druid is at full health, it will heal the most injured friendly target nearby instead. This talent fills the spot vacated by .

Glyphs

New Glyph: Glyph of Efflorescence increases the healing done by Swiftmend by 20%, causes the Efflorescence healing effect to be triggered by Wild Mushroom instead of Swiftmend, and lasts as long as the Wild Mushroom is active.

now causes Ferocious Bite to heal the Druid for 2% of their maximum health for each 10 Energy used (up from 1%).

now causes Innervate to give both the Druid and the target 60% of the normal effect of the spell if it's cast on a target other than the Druid.

now reduces the mana cost of all shapeshifts by 100% (up from 90%).

now increases the range of Pounce by 8 yards (up from 3 yards).

now increases the duration of Skull Bash's interrupt by 2 seconds, and increasing the cooldown by 5 seconds (down from a 4 second interrupt and 10 second increase to cooldown).

Balance

now energizes the Druid for 50% of their maximum mana when triggered, up from 35%.

no longer reduces all damage taken by 15%.

has its mana cost increased by 50%.

has its mana cost increased by 50%.

Feral

no longer has a chance to make Cyclone instant, free, and castable in all forms.

Restoration

is a new Restoration spell learned at level 88. Genesis targets all party or raid members within 60 yards and accelerates the casting Druid's Rejuvenation effects, causing them to heal and expire at 400% of the normal rate. Costs the same amount of mana to cast as Rejuvenation.

Living Seed effects can now stack, up to 50% of the casting Druid's maximum health.

's area-of-effect healing effect is now called Efflorescence.

is no longer capable of critical strikes, and accumulates overhealing done by Rejuvenation by 100%, down from 150%. Overhealing bonus no longer benefits from Naturalist or Mastery: Harmony.

General

had its damage and focus cost increased by 50%.

Hunter's Mark now has a duration of 20 seconds while in PvP combat (down from 30 seconds).

now finishes the cooldowns on Rapid Fire, Feign Death, Deterrence, Disengage, and Camouflage when activated (was all Hunter abilities with a base cooldown of less than 5 minutes).

no longer requires the Hunter to have line-of-sight to their pet.

Talents

now reduces all damage taken by 10%, down from 15%.

's root effect is now a nature spell (was a physical spell).

is no longer a talent and is now an ability for Marksman Hunters.

now regenerates 3% of total health every 2 seconds while the Hunter's pet is active (up from 2%).

now has a range of 40 yards (up from 35 yards).

Glyphs

now has a 100% chance of cleansing 1 Curse, Disease, Magic or Poison effect from the Hunter's pet on each tick (up from 50% chance).

now increases the ranged critical strike chance against targets affected by the Hunter's Freezing Trap by 100% (up from 20% chance).

Marksman

Binding Shot is no longer a Marksman Hunter ability and is once again a talent.

Survival

no longer shares a cooldown with Black Arrow but can no longer activate Lock and Load.

Talents

now deals 70% damage to players (up from 60%).

now deals 85% damage to players (up from 70%).

now deals 85% damage to players (up from 70%).

now also reduces damage taken by 15% while active in addition to existing effects.

Glyphs

now increases distance travelled with the Blink spell by 8 yards (up from 5 yards).

now increases the damage dealt by 15% after successfully removing a curse (up from 10%).

now heals the Mage for 5% of their maximum health after successfully stealing a spell (up from 3%).

Frost

has been redesigned. Fingers of Frost now increases the damage of Ice Lance by an additional 2%, Brain Freeze increases the damage of the instant cast Frostfire Bolt by 2%, and damage done by the Mage's Water Elemental is increased by 2%.

Talents

will now also generate 3 stacks of Brew/Teas based on the Monk's specialization. (Brewmaster: Elusive Brew, Mistweaver: Mana Tea, Windwalker: Tigereye Brew)

will no longer activate if the Monk is already at full health, and activate automatically when the Monk has less than 35% of their maximum health.

has a new visual effect and now disarms both enemies and those attacking allies within the 's area-of-effect for 4 seconds (up from 3 seconds); the silence effect for casting spells remains unchanged at 3 seconds.

Glyphs

now increases the chance to summon a Healing Sphere by 100% (up from 25% chance).

General

now has a 15-second cooldown. (Note: will be redesigned and noted in a future PTR update.)

Talents

Burden of Guilt has been replaced with a new talent called Evil is a Point of View, which allows the Paladin to use Turn Evil on players and beasts.

's initial healing has been reduced by 30%.

now reduces damage taken from harmful periodic effects by 80% (up from 70%) and reduces damage taken from harmful periodic effects that cannot be prevented by immunities by 40% (up from 0%).

Sacred Shield (Old) has been renamed to and is no longer a talent. is a Protection Paladin ability learned at level 85.

(New)

Holy: When the Paladin or their Beacon of Light target falls below 30% health, that target gains a absorbing damage equal to 30% of their maximum health. can only occur once every 2 minutes.

Protection, Retribution: When the Paladin falls below 30% health, they gain a Sacred Shield absorbing damage equal to 30% of their maximum health. can only occur once every 2 minutes.

Holy: Now also increases the critical strike chance of Holy Shock by 20%.

Protection: Now reduces the cooldown of Judgment by 100% (up from 50%).

stacks now also work on in addition to .

will now apply 's bonus to healing to the casting Paladin as well as other targets and consume all stacks of in the process.

has been simplified. It now reduces the cooldown on , , and by 50%.

Glyphs

now increases damage for the next by 10% per stack (down from 20% per stack).

now causes to reduce the cast time of the next Denounce by 0.5 seconds, and the effect can stack up to 3 times.

has been redesigned. The glyph now increases the duration of by 30 seconds (up to a maximum of 2 minutes) each time the Paladin lands a killing blow on targets that yield experience or honor.

Holy

no longer activates from periodic healing effects.

no longer reduces the amount of healing done by 50%.

Retribution

(Retribution version) now has a reduced cooldown of 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes, and the maximum number of stacks has been reduced to 12.

now lasts 20 seconds per charge of Holy Power consumed, up from 10 seconds.

General

no longer has a facing requirement.

Talents

now increases allies' movement speed by 80%, up from 60% and the feathers have a duration of 10 minutes, up from 5 minutes.

for Discipline Priests now has a 100% chance to activate its effect after using , up from 40% and now displays an effect in the UI when it's active.

Discipline, Holy: Now also has a chance to activate its effect on cast for these following spells; , , , and .

Shadow: Now has a 20% chance to activate its effect for Shadow Priests (up from a 15% chance).

's damage and healing threshold to activate has been increased to 35%, up from 20%.

Glyphs

now causes to heal the target for 5% of their maximum health after successfully dispelling a magical effect or disease (up from 3%).

now causes to reflect 70% of the damage absorbed (up from 45%).

Holy

no longer displays a spell effect when in the UI when it's active.

Shadow

now increases the Priest's armor by 60%, but no longer reduces all damage taken by 15%.

Class Armor

Restoration PvP 4-piece set bonus is no longer an area-of-effect and only affects the character that dispels .

General

now restores 4% of maximum health every 3 seconds, up from 3%.

Talents

now increases damage dealt by abilities while stealthed by 50%, up from 25%.

Glyphs

now increases the healing of by an additional 1% (up from 0.5%).

Combat

targeting has been changed. If is not active, will now hit the Rogue's target 7 times or pick the closest eligible target if none had been selected. will continue to work as it has while is active.

General

's radius has been increased to 12 yards, up from 10 yards.

Talents

now has a cooldown of 90 seconds, down from 120 seconds.

has been redesigned. Casting , , Healing Surge, or , increases the duration of by 1 second. Damaging an enemy with , , , or increases the duration of by 1 second.

now increases the cooldown on by 2 seconds, down from a 4 second increase.

now reduces the cooldown and duration for Fire Elemental Totem by 50%, up from 40%.

reduces the initial direct healing of by 75%, down from a 90% reduction to healing.

Enhancement

's debuff now also affects .

Restoration

now only increases healing done by Healing Stream Totem by 50% (was healing done by all Water totems).

's mana cost has been reduced by 25%.

General

The debuff from using a Demonic Gateway has been increased to 60 seconds (up from 15 seconds).

no longer reduces all damage taken by 10%.

now deals 13% more damage, costs 2% less mana, and no longer increases the duration of damage-over-time spells.

now has a reduced chance to generate Burning Embers.

Talents

is no longer a talent and is now a baseline skill for all Warlocks.

, a new talent replacing . The Warlock sends out a cone of Shadow damage, snaring targets, has a 20-second cooldown.

no longer reduces movement speed, and will now allow the Warlock to cast Incinerate, Malefic Grasp, and Shadow Bolt while moving. is no longer a passive ability. now has a duration of 15 seconds with a 1.5 minute cooldown.

is no longer a passive ability. 10 seconds with a 60 second cooldown, and increases the area of area-of-effect by 500% and increases damage by 100% for , , , and .

can now also activate from , and caps out at 15% of the Warlock and their pet's maximum health (down from 100%).

General

now also increases the damage of by 50%.

Enrage now also triggers on critical hits from and .

is no longer on a global cooldown.

is a new passive ability learned at level 76. When the Warrior dodges or parries any attack, they gain 50% of their Parry and Dodge as an additional bonus to Critical Strike for 20 seconds.

no longer costs rage.

no longer requires a shield. If the Warrior does not have a shield equipped, it will show a visual of an equipped shield.

no longer requires a shield. If the Warrior does not have a shield equipped, it will show a visual of an equipped shield.

Talents

now instantly heals the warrior for 10% of their total health (up from 5%), and an additional 10% over 5 seconds (up from 5%).

now heals the Warrior for 20% of their maximum health at all times (up from 15% on attack and 20% on kills that yield experience or honor).

now also has an off-hand attack for Fury Warriors.

no longer transfers damage to the Warrior. The talent now reduces amount of damage the target takes by 30% for 12 seconds.

now roots the target for 4 seconds instead of stunning them for 3 seconds. The 50% reduction to movement speed snare effect for 8 seconds remains unchanged. Glyph of Blitz will now cause to root an additional 2 nearby targets.

Arms

now also reduces the cost of by 10 Rage.

Slam now does an additional 10% damage to targets affected by the warrior’s .

now causes melee attacks to strike an additional nearby target for 75% of the initial damage (up from 50%).

Fury

now works with polearms.

Protection

now activates from critical hits with Shield Slam instead of a flat 20% chance, and the ability will make the next or Cleave be a critical hit in addition to costing no Rage.

Quests

: For players on this step of the legendary quest; all bosses now have a chance to drop a or in addition to their normal loot. Players should no longer be receiving excess Sigils of Power or Sigils of Wisdom.

Creatures

Bonus Roll change: Players that don’t have a coin or elect to not use a Bonus Roll when defeating one of the world bosses (Sha of Anger, Galleon, Nalak, and Oondasta) can come back later that same week to use the Bonus Roll. The limit has not changed and remains one attempt and one bonus roll per boss, per week.

Pet Battles

Pet BattleGeneral

A new pet battle tournament is available on the Timeless Isle, more details coming soon!

Round timers in PvP Pet Battles will now get progressively shorter for a player who takes more than 15 seconds to issue a command during their turn.

Players are now able to trade in any 3 of the same family specific Flawless Battle-Stones for a single .

Viewable pet battles will now display working health bars.

Battle Pet levels are now only shown on the map if you are tracking Battle Pets.

Aquatic type's passive effect now reduces damage from damage-over-time effects by 50%, up from 25%.

Magic type's passive effect now caps damage taken at 35% of maximum health, up from 40%.

Battle Pets

Any Battle Pet that could be awarded from a boss on Raid Finder difficulty can now be won from a bonus roll, in addition to the standard bonus roll reward.

: Several abilities have swapped positions.

: Several abilities have swapped positions.

Battle Pet Abilities

Accuracy now affects the entire team.

Dark Simulacrum has been replaced with a new ability, Rot. Rot deals Undead damage and temporarily turns the enemy pet's type into Undead.

damage has been reduced by 11.5% and now has a 1-round cooldown.

now displays the correct amount of damage reduction.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

Raids

The chance for awarding loot from kills or bonus rolls has been increased for , , , and on Raid Finder difficulty.

The chance for awarding loot from using a bonus roll has been increased for on Normal difficulty.

Dungeons

Players who obtain a realm-best time in a Challenge Mode dungeon (group must contain at least 3 people from the same realm to qualify) will receive a temporary title specific to each dungeon (e.g. Siegebreaker for Siege of Niuzao temple, Darkmaster for Scholomance, etc.). This title will persist for as long as a player retains the top time on the realm. Holding a realm-best time at any point will also confer a permanent Feat of Strength to record the accomplishment.

PvP

Season 14 Grievous gear is now available. Elite versions of Grievous gear will require a rating of 2000 to purchase.

: For testing purposes, the item level scaling of gear in Arenas, Battlegrounds and Rated Battlegrounds has been increased to 512 during the 5.4 PTR. Season 14 Grievous Conquest gear is exempt from this item level ceiling.

Battlegrounds and Arenas

Arenas

For Arena matches lasting longer than 15 minutes, one of the teams will receive a buff called that increases damage, critical strike chance, stealth detection, and reduces damage taken. The buff is awarded based on the following criteria.

Team with the largest number of players alive.

Team that brought an enemy player closest to death (lowest health).

Arena Rating scaling in the 2v2 bracket has been tuned to be consistent with the 3v3 bracket.

Items

All permanent item enhancements provided by Enchanting, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring, and various vendors and quests are now able to be applied to items of any level. This means all enchantments can now be applied to heirloom items.

High level enhancements applied to items equipped by low level players have their power scaled down to be similar to enhancements intended for that level range.

Low level enhancements applied to items equipped by high level players do not grow further in power beyond their intended level range.

: For testing purposes, Flaskataur, Esq. will be available near the Niuzao Temple selling normal Tier-16 armor for gold.

Commentaires

Commentaire de mz1991

The changes to Demonic Gateway will either make the Green Fire quest a lot easier; or a lot harder.

Commentaire de g0dkar

on 2013-06-20T16:31:10-05:00

Yay for Warlock nerfs... =/

Commentaire de misaochankun

on 2013-06-20T16:31:34-05:00

Warlocks should be a little happier now about the Kil'jaeden's Cunning change. They are still allowing the most used channel spell while moving, but it will hurt during 20% when you should be casting Drain Soul (as affliction at least).

Commentaire de Talboth

on 2013-06-20T16:34:11-05:00

I knew they'd backtrack on that whole nerf to Kil'jaeden's Cunning and likely apply it only to certain abilities. The shift was too extreme from one end of the spectrum to the other especially for destro locks who need to hardcast everything.

Commentaire de Rystrave

on 2013-06-20T16:51:24-05:00

Shield Wall and Spell Reflection no longer require shields.

-_-

Commentaire de Keye

on 2013-06-20T17:05:25-05:00

So much for no plans to take Bestial Wrath off Readiness.

And oh good, Mages do even more damage now.

Commentaire de Egre2

on 2013-06-20T17:06:42-05:00

Stap nerfing huntards :<

Commentaire de Steamhammer

on 2013-06-20T17:32:59-05:00

The changes to Demonic Gateway will either make the Green Fire quest a lot easier; or a lot harder.

MUCH harder.

Commentaire de reputable77

on 2013-06-20T17:40:10-05:00

"Predatory Swiftness no longer has a chance to make Cyclone instant, free, and castable in all forms."

If this is a negative change, meaning RNG only players role here, this will make ferals completely useless in arenas. When you know you're about to get off a finisher, you know to call out clones. With this, either fix the tooltip to be more specific in what blizzard is changing about it, or get rid of it.

Commentaire de Orielnight

on 2013-06-20T17:50:40-05:00

Noooo, not Silencing Shot! T_T

Commentaire de Harrowing

on 2013-06-20T18:30:59-05:00

Every class now Buffed, except for Warlocks who they are nerfing to death in spite of the Warlock guy they hated and fired over a Blizz a few weeks ago.

Commentaire de Guggaman

on 2013-06-20T18:47:33-05:00

Why do you remove the 15% dmg reduction on Moonkin form? Balance doesn't even have anything shielding except for barkskin, which is still kinda weak ;_; !

Commentaire de Sflange

on 2013-06-20T18:56:31-05:00

Not silencing shot, please! Take distracting shot instead

Commentaire de Lordplatypus

on 2013-06-20T19:05:13-05:00

Yay for removing silencing shot!

Also, this new sacred shield is more or less the original ret spec one isn't it?

Commentaire de jamesjiao

on 2013-06-20T19:41:11-05:00

Magic type's passive effect now caps damage taken at 35% of maximum health, up from 40%.

Up from? Did you mean the other way around?

Commentaire de TonyFox

on 2013-06-20T20:15:12-05:00

Magic type's passive effect now caps damage taken at 35% of maximum health, up from 40%.

Up from? Did you mean the other way around?

Maybe it's because a 35% cap is better than a 40% cap (for you), since now you can only take 35% of your health from one hit rather than 40%.

Commentaire de Shoddythetroll

on 2013-06-20T21:59:26-05:00

The readiness nerf is quite substantial to Hunters and their opening burst. It saddens me...Yet on the other hand they're buffing Prot Warriors' DPS <3

Commentaire de defilerza

on 2013-06-20T23:28:32-05:00

They state nothing about the Kanrethed fight (for Warlocks' green fire) , but state that they are nerfing Demonic gateway to 60 seconds up from 15. The fight is hard enough as it is.

Commentaire de Wombat62

on 2013-06-21T00:30:32-05:00

Again PvE Hunters suffer greatly because of whinging PvPers .Just make some spells not usable against other players instead

Commentaire de Xionz

on 2013-06-21T00:34:50-05:00

Why must they try to fix things that are not broken. Warlocks are fine just the way they are right now in 5.3 in my opinion. I am okay with small changes, but i am not seeing anything good so far for 5.4.